Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost was elected Pope on May 8, 2025 (local time), taking the name Leo XIV.
Pope Leo XIV is the Church’s first Augustinian Pope, and the first born in North America.
The future Pope was born and raised in Chicago in the United States in 1955. At 27, he was sent to Rome to study Canon Law at the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas (Angelicum). Later, he served a mission in Peru, and became the Bishop of Chiclayo.
In 2023, then-Pope Francis called him to Rome to serve as Prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops and President of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America. Later appointed by Francis as Prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops, he became a Cardinal in 2024.
When Pope Francis was hospitalised in early 2025, the future Pope Leo XIV presided over the Rosary for Pope Francis’s health in Saint Peter’s Square.
A Pope of peace
Pope Leo XIV calls us to pray for peace in a world in the midst of storms. The new Pope’s first words when addressing the world from the Central Loggia of St Peter’s Basilica not long after his election were “Peace be with you!”
He also said:
“God loves us, all of us, evil will not prevail. We are all in the hands of God. Without fear, united, hand in hand with God and among ourselves, we will go forward. We are disciples of Christ, Christ goes before us, and the world needs His light. Humanity needs Him like a bridge to reach God and His love. You help us to build bridges with dialogue and encounter so we can all be one people always in peace.”
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- Day Nine in Africa: From Angola to Equatorial Guineaon April 21, 2026 at 8:11 pm
Pope Leo XIV leaves Angola and arrives in Equatorial Guinea, kicking off the final leg of his intense Apostolic Journey in four African countries. Read all
- Claretian priest reflects on the transformation of the Church in Equatorial Guineaon April 21, 2026 at 6:35 pm
Fr Inocencio Moisés, a Claretian in Malabo, reflects on the significance of Pope Leo XIV’s presence in the Catholic-majority country, and he highlights key ways the Church in Equatorial Guinea has changed since the last visit by a Pope in 1982. Read all
- Pope at hospital in Equatorial Guinea: Small acts of kindness are the ‘hidden’ daily poems of lifeon April 21, 2026 at 5:00 pm
At the Jean Pierre Olie Psychiatric Hospital in Malabo, Pope Leo highlights the call of all hospitals, especially ones with a Christian mission, to be a civilization of love “where a person is welcomed as they are and respected in their frailty.” Read all
- Pope Leo: ‘Pope Francis was a devoted shepherd who touched so many hearts’on April 21, 2026 at 4:40 pm
Pope Leo XIV remembers Pope Francis on the first anniversary of his passing, saying that the late Pope “remained a disciple of the Lord, faithful to his Baptism and to his consecration in episcopal ministry, until the end.” Read all
- Pope in Equatorial Guinea: Christ manifests harmony between faith and reasonon April 21, 2026 at 4:22 pm
During his meeting with the World of Culture in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea at the National University’s León XIV Campus, Pope Leo reiterates the perfect complementarity between faith and reason, and criticizes when Christ is reduced to ‘a religious escape in the face of intellectual endeavors.’ Read all